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River plastic emissions to the world’s oceans

A recent article in Nature Communications provides a global estimate of river plastic inputs into the world’s oceans, considering both the seasonality and spatial variability of local sources.

Here is the abstract of the study:

Plastics in the marine environment have become a major concern because of their persistence at sea, and adverse consequences to marine life and potentially human health. Implementing mitigation strategies requires an understanding and quantification of marine plastic sources, taking spatial and temporal variability into account. Here we present a global model of plastic inputs from rivers into oceans based on waste management, population density and hydrological information. Our model is calibrated against measurements available in the literature. We estimate that between 1.15 and 2.41 million tonnes of plastic waste currently enters the ocean every year from rivers, with over 74% of emissions occurring between May and October. The top 20 polluting rivers, mostly located in Asia, account for 67% of the global total. The findings of this study provide baseline data for ocean plastic mass balance exercises, and assist in prioritizing future plastic debris monitoring and mitigation strategies.

A recent article in Nature Communications provides a global estimate of river plastic inputs into the world’s oceans, considering both the seasonality and spatial variability of local sources.

Here is the abstract of the study:

Plastics in the marine environment have become a major concern because of their persistence at sea, and adverse consequences to marine life and potentially human health. Implementing mitigation strategies requires an understanding and quantification of marine plastic sources, taking spatial and temporal variability into account. Here we present a global model of plastic inputs from rivers into oceans based on waste management, population density and hydrological information. Our model is calibrated against measurements available in the literature. We estimate that between 1.15 and 2.41 million tonnes of plastic waste currently enters the ocean every year from rivers, with over 74% of emissions occurring between May and October. The top 20 polluting rivers, mostly located in Asia, account for 67% of the global total. The findings of this study provide baseline data for ocean plastic mass balance exercises, and assist in prioritizing future plastic debris monitoring and mitigation strategies.

Nasty materials are gradually used globally in a large number of programs with international manufacturing going above 300 million loads per year Because of their durability, low-recycling rates, poor waste management and historic use, a good portion of the plastics produced globally goes into and continues in underwater ecosystems2. This includes coastline, seabed, water line and sea surface surroundings of the world’s oceans3. The launch of plastics into the underwater environment happens through a wide range of routes, such as stream and environmental transportation, beach littering and straight at sea via aquaculture, delivery and fishing activities4. This knowledge helps in improving our understanding of underwater plastic contamination resources and routes, while working towards approximately international budget for sea plastics. It also helps in determining the critical places and periods of plastic produces, assisting the execution of cost-effective tracking and source minimization initiatives.